When many people think of
I can't remember which artists were playing during my first Jazz Fest but it is safe to say that every recording artist performs there sometime during their career. This year there are hundreds of acts, headlined by Billy Joel, Robert Plant and Allison Kraus, Al Green, Dr. John, Tim McGraw, Keysia Cole, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Buffett, Diana Krall, Sheryl Crowe - the list goes on.
I checked out the agenda today at nojazzfest.com (I'll give you the link at the bottom of the page) and I ended up buying a couple of the signed, limited edition 2008 Jazz Fest posters. I bought one years ago on a whim and now it is worth lots of money. Yes, they are more collectible than Mardi Gras doubloons.
During my first Jazz Fest, my friend Ray and I were wandering through the French Quarter. It was pretty much deserted because almost everyone was at the Fairgrounds, attending the Fest. We were browsing in a gift shop and there was an old woman sitting at a small table in the back. She had a deck of Tarot cards and asked if I wanted my fortune told.
It was a bad time in my life. My little oil company had just gone "belly up" and I was struggling to find some answers. "Okay," I said, putting twenty dollars on the table.
I seriously doubted that the old woman could tell fortunes any better than I, but when she began dealing the cards and telling my fortune, I truly felt that she was reading from the master account of my life. She accurately told me things that had just occurred in my life and continued to tell my future.
"Everything will work out for you. You will be redeemed."
Well, everything did work out for me. As far as being redeemed, well, that's open to interpretation.
Marilyn and I have decided to attend this year's Jazz Fest, the last week in April. If you are there and see an old fat man with a permanent grin etched on his face, and yammering to someone as if he had something important to say, please tap me on the shoulder and say hi.